Former Hebrew Foundation School technology teacher and Herzliah High School English teacher Josh Campbell, who was arrested in 2025, has been sentenced to two years in federal prison after pleading guilty to child pornography offences and making sexually explicit material available to a minor.
Campbell, 37, was sentenced by Quebec Court Judge Anne-Marie Lanctôt, who accepted a joint sentencing recommendation from the Crown and defence. In addition to his prison sentence, Campbell received three years of probation and was ordered to perform 240 hours of community service.
The case involved hacked social media accounts, threats against teenage girls, sexually explicit images created using artificial intelligence and a teacher who used his position of trust to exploit young people.
According to evidence presented in court, Campbell gained access to social media accounts belonging to teenagers and used them to contact other minors. By posing as people they knew, he was able to approach his victims without immediately revealing his identity.
In one case, Campbell contacted a teenage girl through a compromised account and suggested having sex with her at school. When she blocked the account, he contacted her again through another account, demanding nude photographs. When the girl refused, Campbell threatened to distribute sexually explicit images of her.
Those images had been fabricated using artificial intelligence, allowing him to threaten the victim with photographs that appeared to depict her in sexual situations that had never occurred.
The victim, identified in court under the pseudonym Gloria, described the psychological damage caused by Campbell’s actions. For three years, she endured threats and manipulation without knowing who was responsible. She eventually learned that the person terrorizing her was a teacher she had trusted. In her victim impact statement, she described feelings of humiliation, disgust and fear, and the devastating effect the experience had on her sense of security.
The investigation also uncovered an extensive collection of child sexual abuse material in Campbell’s possession. Police recovered more than 1,000 photographs and 1,000 videos, including material involving infants. The quantity and nature of the material became significant factors in the criminal proceedings, particularly given Campbell’s attempts to minimize his behaviour.
According to assessments presented to the court, Campbell showed little empathy for his victims and appeared more concerned about the consequences of his arrest and prosecution than the harm he had caused. He reportedly maintained that he had not seriously hurt anyone and denied having a sexual interest in children. Campbell also claimed that he had encountered child pornography almost accidentally while downloading other illegal material.
Experts assessed his risk of reoffending as moderate.
Prosecutors pointed to the prolonged nature of the offences, the use of threats and extortion, the psychological damage inflicted on the victims and Campbell’s position as a teacher as aggravating factors.
Campbell previously worked as a technology teacher at Hebrew Foundation School in Dollard-des-Ormeaux and as an English teacher at Herzliah High School in Montreal.
The victim’s identity is protected by a court order. The school she attended has not been publicly identified.
The Campbell conviction comes just weeks after another former Herzliah teacher, Michel Srougi, was arrested in a separate child pornography investigation. Srougi was arrested on October 23, 2026 in the Herzliah High School cafeteria during the school day.
As Montreal Jewish News previously reported, Srougi taught French at Herzliah for five years, working with students across various grades, his employment was terminated following his arrest.
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